A Goa'uld Miracle
by skarosianlifeform
Summary: What if, at the beginning of the Earth-Minbari War, Earth got an unexpected chance ?
1. Human Yet Alien

**This is a fanfiction/timeline set in the Babylon 5 universe in the Earth-Minbari War, but there will be more and more Stargate elements. There are chapters with dialogue and/or real-time description, and other chapters more like articles (written from an internal POV). Also, there will be a few recurring (OC) characters, but I don't feel like writing dialogues and situations with show characters, barring exceptions, I'd make them OOC and awkward. **

**So, if you prefer a "classical" fanfiction, character-focused, read at your own risk :p. **

**Also, I don't mind criticism, it helps to do better, but please be respectful and try to be helpful. It's my first published fanfiction, so I'm trying my best, but it's possible and likely that I rewrite it later, add, remove and change things, because of course it's not perfect. Also, don't hesitate to tell me if there are typos, or orthograph and syntax errors, or even misused expressions, I'm not a native English-speaker so it can happen from time to time.**

**Good read. **

**July 2245 – Geneva**

Deep underground, in two EIA cells, two people, human yet alien, were detained. A man, and a woman. The man wore a leather jacked and had long, black hair, with a regal air. He clearly was used to be obeyed and served in every of his whims. But if you looked enough, you could see a slight surprise that he was caught. After all, Seth managed to remain under the radar of everyone, humans, Goa'uld and Tok'ra, since that day when Ra put a bounty on his head.

In the next cell, the woman there also had a regal air, but her cunning smile showed the master seductress in her. And her beauty was rather stunning. Or rather, the beauty of her host. Hathor was wearing the body of Andromeda, the legendary princess, for centuries, since Andromeda's mother, the Queen of Bithynia, defied the goddess of love.

Those two people were an enigma to Earth Intelligence Agency. President Levy wasn't thrilled when she was awoken by the EIA call at 3 a.m., while she managed to get some sleep. Sleeping was difficult when you knew that your species was doomed if not for a miracle, so she expected to be awoken only for a real good reason, and when she heard about pyramids in Egypt, Ancient Gods, and fancy things like that, she was not happy to be disturbed for such silly stories.

However, when Director Henri Moreau revealed that the two wannabe gods were actually snakes living in human bodies, and that they had a "Sarcophagus" able to resurrect or rejuvenate people, personal shields and blast emitters, teleportation rings, electric stun guns able to disintegrate people, and were able to make humans into incubators and supersoldiers for their kind, all of that, with no known power source, THAT got her interest.

What got even more the interest of Earth Alliance was the news that the two gods tried to sneak with their followers (who were under Nish'ta influence, of course) into a secret base, which belonged to the old US Army before EA Army took over in 2156. In fact, they nearly succeeded in their goal, reaching the object of their interest.

A ring, made of the same unknown metal as the zat'niktel and hara'kesh weapons EIA captured. The US military stored that ring from 1939, when it was transferred from Egypt, but never managed to do anything with it and forgot about it. Seth and Hathor had managed to enter the chappai's room when they were cornered and stopped.

So, President Levy ordered her people to milk the two aliens as much as possible, and in fact wanted to come herself, but Secret Service refused, no members of the government (or any authority position) would be allowed near them, they clearly were able to exercise mind control and could have explosive or other dangerous devices on them.

For now, two agents in full NRBC suits (just in case the prisoners tried to mind-control them) were interrogating Seth and Hathor, in separate rooms.


	2. A Very Old Acquaintance

**Flashback**.  
><strong>2241 - Seattle<strong>

Well, Seth perfectly knew that he was no god. But he liked to play god, it allowed him to be served and live like a pacha. Many of his fellow Goa'uld tended to forgot that they weren't really gods.

In fact, that was, indirectly, why Seth betrayed the System Lords. He understood that, since humans weren't any inferior to the Goa'uld by nature, his kind shouldn't uplift them, even just by teaching them agriculture or primitive industry (or war), and just use them as hosts. So, he opposed the policy of transplanting humans all around the galaxy and leaving them abandoned when the "gods" didn't need them anymore. Seth knew that they would then develop and become a threat, while his fellows saw them as mere cattle and thought that as gods, they would always dominate them. Of course, remaining trapped on Earth and seeing the Tau'ri reach the stars proved him he was right.

Seth had nowhere else to go if he wanted to live a sweet life, because Tok'ra and Ash'rak tracked him in the wider galaxy. Of course, he could have tried to find Sokar or Anubis, and propose one of them to serve him, against protection, but in his book, they were far worse than the others.

That said, now remaining on Earth was becoming dangerous as well. The Earther's technology level was dangerously rising, and so did the risk of discovery. Moreover, the Earthers had gathered the attention of many, many alien races, especially in the Dilgar War. They were bound to run into the Goa'uld or someone else just as dangerous, sooner or later, and then Seth would be screwed.

But he didn't know what to do. He could try to hide in plain sight, becoming a renowned scientist, or CEO, or politician (or rather, taking over someone at this position), but there was still the problem of his body : he needed to change it quietly, and each time, he would have to start all over again. Moreover, a public life would lead to all kind of attentions. People would remark he was not aging much, and that he was weird. He was not used to respect laws and democracy, which was required to command people, even in military. Moreover, Seth got simply lazy, and lost his cunning for poltical intrigues (he hadn't practiced since the Tau'ri Rebellion), preferring a simpler life (for Goa'uld standards of course).

He could hide by simply living a normal life, but Seth didn't want to simply go to work in morning and back in evening, not after so long living as a "god". Besides, it would not allow him to flee Earth easily if he needed. And finally, he hadn't many competences and would not find easily a job, except perhaps unpleasant and tiring jobs.

He could flee, but to where ? Goa'uld space was a no-no. And in the vicinity, more or less all the inhabitable planets seemed under the control of some interstellar power, all as dangerous as Earth.

So, with no good option, Seth decided to procrastinate until this body (now more than four centuries old) died, and take advantage of his time as god, since that time may very well be counted. Seth refused to believe this, of course, he was a Goa'uld, but a nagging doubt crept, and to chase away bad mood, Seth called Giorgio, his best eunuch, who offered his body, while followers chanted **"Seth is Life ! Seth is Happiness ! Seth is God !"** in unison.

Once Seth had offered the divine semen to Giorgio, he came back to his senses, happy. But soon, something else was nagging him. Not the familiar doubt, but a presence. The sent of Naqadah, indicating there was a Goa'uld or Tok'ra (or Jaffa, but there weren't any on Earth of course) close by. Very close. Seth feared that it was Osiris or Isis, and was about to start the defence protocols, when the intruder entered.

Seth's jaw dropped, in total surprise. He knew Osiris and Isis were still on Earth, but thought she had gone with Ra. And then, he wondered how did she manage to keep the same body for so many centuries, while he had to change every four or five. The answer was obvious : she had access to a Sarcophagus.  
><strong>"HATHOR !?"<strong>.


	3. Gods and Spies

**24th september 2245 - Earth Intelligence Agency - Geneva **

EIA Agent Mark Stevens entered Seth's interrogation room, and sat down next to the Goa'uld.  
><strong>"Mr Seth"<strong>, started Mark, **"we're here to offer you a deal"**.

Seth roared, with his eyes glowing, **"I am your GOD ! I will punish you for eternity"**, and the seemingly affable agent slapped him, to his stupefaction. **"Wrong answer, snake. So, now you can decide to cooperate and we'll be nice. OR, you can be stubborn, we'll torture and resurrect you with the Sarcophagus of your good-looking friend, until you talk."** Stevens paused, letting that information sink in Seth's head, and then, came back to attack.

**"And, you won't have a place on a ship to leave Earth, when the Minbari come. Because that's why you wanted suddenly to flee, right ? ".** Stevens knew that Seth was reasonable, he could have conquered the world in Antiquity or Middle Ages, but never did, content with his small sects, and he clearly cared for survival first. So, he also knew a deal was possible, but inevitably, there was posturing.

Stevens finished. **"So, cut the short song, Mr the God, and make your choice." **  
>Seth reflected on this offer. In fact, there was nothing to reflect, there was only to accept. So he did. <strong>"What can you offer me, human ?"<strong>.

At the end of the day, both Goa'uld had been convinced, and only with civilized means. Torture was officially forbidden, but that didn't mean EIA was shy about it, when needed.

Hathor was more difficult to convince than Seth, but that was more a negociation tactic than anything else. Each Goa'uld got a little palace of their own (EIA didn't want them together, of course), with servants and luxuries, only this time, servants would wear NRBC suits instead and be employed by the State, and they would not beat, kill or rape them.

They had a strong motivation to work. If one of them revealed useless, or was clearly holding back, or betrayed Earth, he or she would lose that golden prison and go to the torture chamber, indefinitely (until he or she was broken). Moreover, if Earth lost, they too would die at Minbari hands. Finally, their competition made them more cooperative.


	4. Hathor

**August 2245 - Eskal **  
>The secret base on Eskal hadn't seen activity in millenia, in fact, since Hathor was left on Earth. Only she knew of its existence. When Ra designated Hathor to become his queen, Hathor publicly rejoiced, after all, who could refuse to be the queen of the Supreme System Lord. But deep down, she fumed. She wouldn't have her freedom of move anymore, and wouldn't be able to keep her domain.<p>

This was part of the reason why Hathor "accidentally" missed her flight aboard a Ha'tak during the Tau'ri Rebellion, and remained on Earth. Which was not Tau'ri at all, by the way, but was fomented by a coalition of Ohnes freedom fighters (led by Omoroca), Tok'ra and Ancients who came back from Atlantis, and gained the support of some Jaffa (the Sodan tribe) and most humans, especially in Mesopotamia and Egypt.

That said, Hathor's domains in Central America and Asia Minor were spared from the rebellion, after all, Hathor had always ruled with the principle of pleasure and was mostly loved, or at least tolerated. Better to keep her domain on Earth than to be, basically, property of Ra.

What Hathor hadn't foreseen was to be toppled by her own priestesses. Who  
>had the nerve to rule in her name. Hathor was still incensed, but also almost admired them, their lust for power, their patience and their sudden betrayal. Almost Goa'uld-like.<p>

Luckily for her, an archeological expedition released her, and she was set free. She decided to walk all the way to the Stargate, after all, a little exercise is always good, but she soon understood things would be more complicated. So, she decided to search for Seth, a potential ally.

It was rather easy, since she knew what to look for. The fool always kept the same modus operandi, and even the same name. Seducing men from Terran federal agencies and getting intel on Seth's whereabouts was merely practice for her seducing skills. Of course, she had to kill them next.

Seth was the right choice, since he had a good fifty followers, and she found followers of her own to not depend on him. But even with that force, they still failed to take over Cheyenne Mountain and reach the chapp'ai.

So, that's why a wormhole was opened from Earth to Eskal. Of course, the EIA didn't believe Hathor on her good looks, and sent first a dozen of MALPs, which explored most of the base corridors. Once it was cleared, three EIA teams (with NRBC suits, of course, you never know what biological dangers can lie on a new planet) crossed through.


	5. The Hypnos Project

**The Year of Despair, by Professor Amelia Dooney, Proxima University Press, 2350**

When the Minbari War started, at the beginning, public opinion expressed its disquiet and blamed (rightly) the hotheads within Earth Force. They believed that it would be settled with a diplomatic solution, and also had faith in their military.

To a 24th century reader, it might seem naive, but we have to remember that people at the time never went through a war of extermination directed against mankind. The only wars they knew were skirmishes with Narn and Drazi raiders, wars against Koulani and Ch'lona (which were easy), and the Dilgar War, which was a resounding win. Sadly, the Minbari War would be the first, but not the last time that Terrans (or, as the wider galaxy calls them, Tau'ri) would be threatened in their very existence.

Of course, the government, and its alien partners, especially the Centauri, Hyach and Yolu, knew better. After the Battle of Vega, people all around Earth Alliance realized the horrible truth. The Minbari didn't want to merely punish, or even enslave or conquer mankind, they were coming to exterminate us. And they had a large quantitative and qualitative superiority. Moreover, mankind was alone, nobody wanted to help us (at least officially).

But preparations were started to ensure the survival of mankind. First of all, the old sleeper ships from the 21st and 22nd century came back online. There were hundreds of them on Proxima, the very first colony, established before humans developed the jump technology, and there were a few still on Earth, that had been built to colonize the Tau Ceti system around 2155, and were then mothballed because of the jump-gate.  
>A few shipyards on Earth and Proxima were dedicated to produce that type of ships, in the utmost secret. This was both to avoid people rioting everywhere (or for the richest people, pulling favors) to get on the ships, and to avoid the Minbari knowing about those ships.<p>

The codename of this project was the Hypnos Project, for obvious reasons : Hypnos is the god of sleep.

So, many sleeper ships were sent to nearby systems inaccessible through jumpspace, such as Katepyn, Gliese 823 and Gliese 581. The expeditions benefitted from the latest in all fields of technology, especially life support, hydroponics, medicine and surgery. They all had repositories of human knowledge, not only in science but in all cultural fields. Last but not least, the expeditions had artificial wombs.

Before this day, the artificial uterus use was forbidden for humans, for various reasons, such as religious pressure and ethic concerns. There was also the problem of overpopulation and lack of ressouces. Even though EA had dozens of colonies, most of them were on uninhabitable or barely habitable planets, and had only a mining purpose. Had EA gained Hyach terraformation technology, it could've changed things, but EA didn't.

There were not that much close habitable planets, and since jumpspace was restricted to a few systems and the region was already very crowded, humans didn't have enough real estate and ressources for their 20 billion of people. So, adding even more people through artificial means was off the table.

With the Minbari War, of course, things changed. The expeditions would each hold 500,000 people, in various ships, selected for their skills, their health and their psychological profile, and of course, balanced between men and women. They had the mission to restart humanity on new planets, with the mandatory minimum of 7 children per couple or (celibate) people. Thanks to the artificial utero, the women would not be turned into breeding factories, and would not even have to stop work.

Earth Dome didn't trust Psi Corp, which was not included in the project. But by a secret presidential order, all children born through the artificial womb would be telepath. Elizabeth Levy had the foresight to see that telepathy was an evolutionary advantage, and every advantage would be needed.

Everything was to be done to ensure the survival of Hypnos colonies. They were forbidden to try to contact Earth or anyone else. They had to maintain an evacuation fleet ready for emeregencies, and always build and maintain enough ships for everyone to flee, if needed. They also were forbidden to broadcast anything in space, be it radio waves or tachyonic messages. Earth Dome had retained the lesson from the meeting with the Vree and Brakiri, who already know almost everything on Earth thanks to TV emissions reaching them. Of course, humans didn't have the luxury to do that now, with the Minbari lurking around.

Since many people knew or at least suspected about Hypnos in power circles, plenty of rumors soon circulated about this. Under the war laws, ISN was forbidden to talk about it, but social networks carried rumors about it. Earth Dome never censured those rumors, and let people gossip, because censuring it would ensure even more suspiscion. Moreover, if people suspected it, it gave them hope that mankind would survive, and hope was paramount.

The Hypnos Project had also an additional advantage. All the gossip around this made a nice diversion for a deeper secret, the Hermes Project, which was the evacuation through the Stargate.


	6. Terra Nova

**Extract from "Return of the Ancient Gods", by Doctor Silvia del Valle**

In october 2245, a new colony was founded on Eskal. The Giza stargate would only dial Abydos or Heliopolis at first, but Hathor and Seth described the DHD, which was quickly retrieved in an old Russian military base. After all, there were not many objects in a totally unknown metal in Russian military bases. So, EA could dial Eskal.

Hathor had proved trustworthy after all. The planet was far from both Earth and the Goa'uld Empire and not reachable through jumpspace, so neither snakes nor boneheads would stumble on it through space. The Eskal gate was protected by a titanium iris, and placed in a pit. The pit was surrounded by machine guns, and the room could be totally isolated and devoid of air.  
>All those precautions were to ensure that no Goa'uld or Minbari could arrive through the gate. EA became, understandably, paranoid.<p>

Eskal itself was everything you could want of a planet. It had large reserves of Naqadah, Trinium and more common minerals, like iron, and even crystals. It was perfectly habitable. Like, in fact, many of the planets that our Alteran forefathers terraformed. The first explorers on Eskal, and then on other gate planets, even joked that going there was like "going to Canada".  
>Hathor had, after all, spent centuries seeking a perfect planet for fall back if her main bases were compromised.<p>

In the first months, Eskal's colonization was slow. EA took time to ensure there were no biological dangers, to survey the entire planets. At the same time, EIA people brought dozens of satellites through the gate, to be launched, and built a small launch site. There were meteorological satellites, of course, but there were also defence and spy satellites to immediately detect a ship, hyperspace window (Hathor and Seth described it) or jump vortex in the system.

EIA brought plenty of equipment. There were orbital and ground-based telescopes to survey the surroundings of Eskal. There were radiotelescopes and tachyonic telescopes, to verify there was effectively no one. Of course, the method was not foolproof, but it was better than nothing.

At the same time, hundreds of thousands of people were tasked with building housing, water supply stations, hydroponics stations, mines, hospitals and a rail network, all around the planet. New towns emerged in a very quick time, they were placed near the future mines and near coasts. Desalinization tanks produced both drinkable water and salt.

The environment remained largely untouched with the humans' arrival, since they used the old school method for fishing (avoiding over-fishing created by the industrial methods), and produced their meat in intensive livestock farming and the vegetal food (both for themselves and livestock) with hydroponics, so the vegetals and animals of Eskal were mostly spared.

That choice was made both to avoid a repeat of the Earth Ecosystem Crisis, and because at the time, people didn't know what were the long-term effects of eating local food. Moreover, it was more reassuring to people who already left brutally their planet to continue eating the same food as before.

The houses were made using straw and wood. Of course, there was no time (or place) to build everyone an individual house, so rather, everyone (or couple) got an individual room in a collective house, in which duties were shared.

The workers who set up Eskal Colony were mostly conscripts and penal workers. The conscription allowed to spirit away many people both to the Hypnos Project and to Eskal, by pretending they were away or dead. Usually, EA ensured that families would not be separated, not only because it was more humane but to avoid family members seeking the truth and threatening the secret.

In november 2245, EA started to spirit people en masse to Eskal, since the infrastructures were ready to receive them. The draft touched everyone from 15 to 80-year old, men and women alike. Of course, not everyone would be send to fight, many were simply used as industrial workers, cooks, nurses and any other necessary profession. But the sight of people leaving home to a military station or a factory was very common.

So, it raised no eyebrows when trains and planes carried people to Cheyenne Mountain, and for a few of them, to a spaceport to board an Hypnos spaceship, and returned empty. Earth Alliance intended to save as much people as possible.

Of course, the gate on Eskal was taken out of its pit and directly connected to the Eskal railway, carrying people to a transit station, where another train would take them to their new town. Only then they would lean they were on another planet.

There was a selection, of course, to send people to Eskal, but not a very through one. People selected were healthy and mostly young (there were old people, who had to follow their family, though), and all former criminals or known unstable people were excluded.

The people selected for Hypnos received through psychological and physical tests, to ensure they would fare well in a long journey in stasis, and then in a new, "lost" and domed colony. But the conditions on Eskal were similar to Earth and in many aspects, better, so all those tests weren't needed. Besides, the numbers were different.

The main criteria was the skills. Eskal needed qualified industrial workers, miners, technicians, engineers and scientists, to build and maintain the infrastructures, especially the coming shipyards. Those shipyards would produce new ships integrated with Goa'uld technology. But Eskal also needed less qualified people, to all sort of menial tasks. If possible, the menial tasks such as cooking or guarding children were confided to the old people present, that gave them a sense of usefulness and freed time for the others.

Not that many Hypnos ships were build and their building took time, so that gave EA time to select members. But millions of people would go to Eskal. You can dial a gate for a maximum time of 38 minutes, and you can do so 36 times per day. EIA made the most of it. Each day, there were 18 incoming connections from Eskal, carrying shipments of Naqadah and Trinium, and 18 connections to Eskal.

Each time Eskal was dialed (18 times per day), 12 trains passed through, each filled with 3,500 people (all standing to save space). That meant 275 millions of people would "disappear" each year.


	7. Meanwhile, Upstairs

**October 2245 - Astral plane**  
>As the lower plane went ablaze with war, life went as normal in the higher plane. Some ascended people watched the slaughter with sorrow. Many others were rather indifferent, though. People drank coffee, or Bourbon, or Brivari, in the Astral Dinner, while reading the <em>Ascended Times<em> with their friends.

After all, the majority of the ascended were the Ancients, Alterans, or as they called themselves now, Others. They had lost their own civilization, millions of years ago, to a bioweapon. And then, they lost it again, in Pegasus, to the Wraith. They had watched countless civilizations, human and alien alike, rise and fall. So, the threat on Earth Alliance didn't move them that much, they knew that the galactic cluster was full of humans. Also, that type of Ancients tended to think of themselves as the apex of evolution, and mere mortal as little more than animals. Still, there were of course Ancients who still cared, and not everyone up there was Ancient.

Ascended people had the ability to create mental "rooms", to have a private discussion without the Others (in all senses of the term) eavesdropping. A small group of ascended people was discussing the news in such a room.  
>It was An'shal who opened the discussion. <strong>"Couldn't we do something ?"<strong>. He was almost crying. Well, mentally crying. Ascended may have shed their physical body but not their emotions.

He was lightly scolded by his mentor, an Ancient named Augustus. **"Sweetie, you know the rules, so why do you bring it up again ?"**. Then, Augustus softened. **"And I know, you feel guilty for what your race did to others, and you want to make up for this. And I know that you won't listen to me, but you shouldn't."**

An'shal was struck by that answer. That was true. He was a Dilgar, in fact, he ascended as a children, thanks to the legendary Oma Desala, who took upon herself to ascend all Dilgar children before the supernova that vaporized Omelos.

The Ascended Nox had wanted to save the entire Dilgar population, but the Ancients had decided that the Dilgar as a people were too corrupt to ascend and forbidden them. But Oma had persuaded them to allow the children, and had to accept they would only be half-ascended, like Anubis. The Others feared to allow hundreds of millions of people (especially children) to access their knowledge and power, and the Nox cared about saving them so they accepted.

The Nox and sympathetic Ancients, like Oma herself and Augustus, were put in charge of teaching the children the ways of Ascension. Many of those children were broken, they all had lost their parents, uncles, aunts, and in many cases brothers and sisters. They carried guilt, both survivor guilt and guilt for what their kind did to the League of Non-Aligned races.

Also, just like all new ascended people (especially young ones), all those children (well, teens or young adults now) had difficulties to sever their ties to the mortal plane. Some ascended people never managed to do that, even after millenia, the prime example being Chaya Sar on Proculus. So, they were still hit hard by what happened downstairs.

Augustus comforted An'shal, by providing him an ethereal hug. In the same room was a Nox teacher, Lysis, who had her own opinion.

**"We can't intervene in the war itself, and that's fine by me, we Nox never kill anyway. But surely we can save people just like we did with the Dilgar, right ?"**. Lysis knew that would be complicated, because of politics.

The Others feared to allow yet more people upstairs, which would reduce their power and could lead to the non-intervention rule being torn apart, if they became too much a minority. Of course, they also feared that, in minority, their safety would not be assured.

Being immortal for millenia, or millions of years, does that to you. You become ridiculously reluctant to changes and risks.

Augustus confirmed that her fears were true. **"They won't allow it. Already, many are making noises to send back the Dilgar and League people to the mortal plane, on some isolated planet, and close the gates."** Augustus had the ear of the High Council, so he tended to knew in advance of policies (and in that case, it wasn't very hard to guess anyway).

Lysis sighed. The Alterans may be called "Ancients", but they were still young, and had still much to learn. But in the meantime, she had an idea for how to save lives in that conflict. She decided to relax a little, watching people of all races playing and having fun together in the "garden". Most of them were there thanks to Oma Desala and her acolytes, including herself and her fellow Nox. There were people saved in the Centauri-Orieni war, in the Narn Liberation War and in the Dilgar War, as well as humans from the wider Milky Way, Pegasus and other galaxies. Dilgar mingled with Alacan [1], Mitoc mingled with Balosians, Krish mingled with Rogolons [2], Narn mingled with Orieni, and there were countless other races (first and foremost humans though). There was even the occasional "old-form" Asgard (who looked much like a Vree). That sight gave her hope and faith for her task.

[1] and [2] : The Orieni are an old enemy of the Centauri, that invaded them in the 21st century. The Usuuth and Rogolons were caught in the crossfire. The Alacans, Mitoc and Krish were victims of the Dilgar genocide in 2229-2231. The sources are _Wars of the Centauri Republic_ and _The Galactic Guide_.


	8. A Boneheaded Choice

**The Minbari Invasion - Part One**, _by Professor Aleksandar Kolarov_

One can wonder why the Minbari didn't simply drive to Earth and the Core Colonies, in 2245, after the Prometheus Incident. After all, their ships were very superior. First of all, they had their sensor/jammer technology, which stopped the Earth Force ships to locate them except at very short range, and when they _were_ at short range, the Minbari sensors affected the human engines, just like during the Prometheus Incident.

Moreover, their gravitic propulsion gave their ships more speed and maneouvrability, and their fusion lasers and neutron cannons went through human armor like a knife through butter.

To top this all, they had also a slight numerical superiority, which became greater, with a 9-1 losses ratio in their favor.

Some had argued they didn't know where Earth and the core colonies were. Truth is more complex. The Minbari did have to map the jump routes in Earther space, and locate systems one by one, and that took time. That said, they could have got the information, since the Vree, Brakiri and others knew it from old TV broadcasts, and even they could have pinpointed Earth's position from the broadcasts they received. They simply were too arrogant, at the beginning, to bother listen to human media.

This is the crux of the matter : Minbari arrogance. They thought they had all the time of the world to finish the humans, since they were so superior. And it was not unreasonable. Hadn't it been for Hathor and Seth's capture, humanity would've been screwed even then. Also, the Minbari warrior caste wanted to take its time, they viewed the war as a sport and as a source of (easy) glory. The warrior officers had a slightly different vision from their soldiers.

The Minbari slowness was also the result of land campaigns. The Minbari warriors were determined to "clean" human planets on land, rather than just glassing them from orbit. The glassing was there to destroy military and industrial centers, and then Minbari ground pounders would enter action. The officers wanted those land campaigns, so that Minbari soldiers would get real experience against a good opponent.

Those land campaigns took time, since the Minbari were outclassed on land. Their warriors were just that, warriors, while their human counterparts were soldiers. The Minbari warriors used pikes, and were not prepared to a war against a modern army. Moreover, they were too arrogant (just like their fleet fellows). While the human soldiers were very well-trained, and many had fought the Dilgar before. Even human civilians fought, sometimes suicidally, since they were doomed either way.

There were also politics involved. First of all, the centuries-old rivalry between the Wind Swords and the Star Riders, which pushed them even more to seek glory in land campaigns. Secondly, there were some really good officers, like Branmer, who wanted to get rid of their most arrogant warriors (especially those of the Wind Swords), and also wanted to weaken the clans' influence, by letting those men run to their death on land.

Finally, the Minbari Grey Council had decided to destroy the mining and agricultural colonies first as a delibarate choice for strategical reasons. They hoped that :  
>(1) the humans would be demoralized by seeing so many colonies fall.<p>

(2) the humans would be forced to send ships to defend those colonies, ships that would be destroyed easily, reducing their numbers in the final battles.

(3) the humans would lose access to the agricultural and mineral ressources of all their small colonies, which were vital to their economy.

Those calculations actually made sense. The Minbari couldn't have known that the humans had access to the resources of Eskal through the gate, nor that they would develop Goa'uld technology in the meantime.

All of that meant that, for more than two-thirds of the planets occupied, there was a land campaign, more or less long. Each time, that tied the Sharlin involved in the invasion to protect land forces.

So, a good part of the fleet remained tied for home defence, Protectorate defence [1], patrol duties (especially on the Centauri and Orieni borders) and occupation duties. Not to mention the Deneb Expedition.

[1] The Minbari Protectorate is constituted of protected planets, like Norsa, Iklath, Tikola and Moga.


	9. The Frontier Expedition

**The Deneb Expedition - Part I : the motives**  
>Extract of <em>The Minbari Invasion - Part One<em>, by Professor Aleksandar Kolarov  
>In October 2245, the Minbari decided to attack the Deneb Sector (nicknamed the Frontier) right now. To remind the readers not familiar with human geography, the Deneb Sector is an anomaly, since it's situated at 1600 light-years from Earth, which is very far from all Earther (or for that matter, Minbari, Centauri or LONAW) planets.<p>

Earth got access to Deneb in 2172, when a seemingly unique phenomenon (which no scientist ever explained), a "jump-corridor", was discovered between the Tau Ceti and Deneb systems. There had been plenty of debates on the natural or artificial origins of the corridor, but they are outside the scope of this essay.

The humans were both lucky and unlucky while finding Deneb. They were lucky in the sense that there were hundreds of resource-rich planets in the region, reachable through jumpspace, and not claimed by anyone (the region was devoid of life). On the other hand, none of this planets was habitable, even if many were potentially habitable. Their terraforming was possible (and indeed, started) but would take centuries to be complete with EA technology. Once again, Hyach technology would have greatly helped at the time.

Still, there was a colonial rush in that region, which was soon nicknamed the Frontier, for a number of reasons. Many people were lured by a promise of becoming rich easily, but also by the prospect of adventure. Many _did_ become very rich, but many more ended as slaves in all but name. There were all kinds of people, plenty of criminals, but also religious and ideological communities (from communists and anarchists to luddites). Of course, the mega-corporations came too, and so did the Earth Alliance, with its space police.

The Frontier made EA far richer, allowing the Alliance to repay her debt to the Centauri for building and leasing the first jumpgate, and then build her own jumpgate, and finally, to launch her "4000 ships" program in the 2220s. That program was in preparation to a war against the Dilgar.  
>So, basically, it's the Frontier, alongside the Dilgar War and the popularity of human culture (especially among Centauri and Brakiri) that made humanity stand out as a great power, while humans had a technology level slightly inferior to the Drazi and Narn, and far inferior to the Centauri, Vree, Abbai or Hyach.<p>

Despite that, EA's control on the Frontier always remained shaky, because the fleet was always focused on the Home Sector, which is understandable, not only because it is the home sector, but because the potential threats (Centauri, Narn, Drazi) were next to Earth while there was no one else in the Frontier.

In 2245, when the Minbari started their invasion of human space, they had two priorities. The first, as seen before, was to destroy the smaller colonies in the Home Sector, and the second was to destroy the Frontier.  
>Their choice was dictated by pride, need for training, and because they wanted to economically strangle the Core Planets.<p>

**Flash forward  
>Starfleet Academy - March 2300<strong>

Colonel Tasha Dean was a veteran of all wars. She had entered the GROPOS during the Dilgar War, and been wounded at Balos. She had, of course, fought the boneheads. She saw many battles, Jericho, New California and Mars among them. And finally, she had been there at the battles of Edora, Bedrosia and Terella.

So, she became a living legend for the GROPOS, and even for most of Earth Force. That's why Starfleet was inviting her, to talk to the cadets. Not only she had been an excellent soldier on the field, but she proved just as good as tactics and strategies.

That's why Starfleet had invited her, to talk to the cadets. While walking in the gardens of the Academy, she saw cadets with fondness, remembering being in their place. Some were practicing mutai, the well-known Yolu martial art, while others were playing football or fighting with Minbari pikes.

Starfleet had also invited An'lashok officers to train cadets, the Rangers training was rumored to be very hard but excellent. Also, most of those An'lashok were veterans, of the same battles as her, and Starfleet wanted the greens to meet veterans of both sides.

Of course, like many old people, Tasha couldn't help thinking that "it was so easy for them, when I was their age, I had it more difficult", but she wasn't angry about that. When artificial gravity had finally been introduced, it had been about damn time.

Tasha arrived early, and took a seat in the rear of the room, to listen and watch as cadets got their Space Tactics course. Well, technically it had a more complicated (and pompous) name, but nobody remembered it. She noticed another Anla'shok veteran next to her, and nodded to him.

The subject was the Deneb, or Frontier Expedition, that the Grey Council sent in July 2246. One student (who was only half-human) raised his hand to ask a question, and the professor gestured to him. **"Sir, I don't understand, why did the Grey Council send a third of the Minbari fleet to the Frontier ? "**. Then, he saw everyone looking at him and blabbered, they must have thought he didn't do his homework and didn't listen. **"I mean, I listened to your explanations, about their pride and other reasons, but I still don't understand. Surely there must have been other reasons, they were stupid"**.

He remembered that there was an Anla'shok and became even more embarrassed. He turned green (if he had been a full human, he would have reddened). **"Not that every Minbari is stupid, but..."**. Master Dorval of the Anla'shok was rather amused at the youngster blunt honesty, and saw that he didn't meant ill. He would have to learn to control his tongue, but his honesty was still a quality. Also, he was clearly able to question what he was taught, rather than just accept it.

And not just what his professors taught. Schools (human and alien alike), from elementary to high-school (or what was equivalent), all carried that image of the Minbari, during the War, rushing headfirst and not thinking. While it had a large element of truth, it was of course over-simplification. And that image was spread in human mass culture. There were many TV series, movies and even plays that portrayed the war-era Minbari Warriors like that, and exaggerated, more for laughs than anything else. There were also popular songs mocking the Minbari (about Deneb).  
>"Shakiri" and "Sineval" had become a popular invective against politicians or generals who were too arrogant and obstinate, while "Wind Sword" became a popular insult that people traded casually.<p>

Which wasn't that bad. After all, laughing about the event and mocking the Minbari was a way for humans to get over the trauma of their near-extinction. It also helped many humans to gradually forgive, or at least, hate a little less, the Minbari. Of course, all those representations lacked historical accuracy, but who cares ?

So, Master Dorval smiled and replied. **"Don't worry, you're right. We were stupid at the time. Well, most of us were. But go ahead with your question". **

The student composed himself, and went ahead. **"Surely, the Minbari had other reasons, because they weren't that stupid. Perhaps they didn't fear for their safety, but even they could see they would be overstretched. So, why ?"**

The professor was hoping someone would ask that precise question, and replied. **"Well, that's an excellent question. The biggest, and not well known, reason, was that the Minbari noticed that human industry seemed unaffected by their conquest of the small colonies. Moreover, they soon noticed that the Kamikaze had a trinium hull and that the humans were using Naqadah bombs.**

**Of course, they ignored the existence of the Stargate, and while they knew of those two metals, they also knew that they were extremely rare in our Home Sector, so they concluded that the humans must have found them in the Frontier.**

**And since the humans kept using more and more Naqadah and Trinium, the Minbari concluded that the humans had another access to the Frontier. So, they became even more resolute to take out the Frontier, because they thought that they would gain Naqadah and Trinium reserves for themselves, and that they would deny those ressources to Earth Alliance.**

**But the clock is ticking, so let's finish on this. I'll leave my chair to our guest of honor, Colonel Tasha Dean herself"**

All the class took notes with fervor. Many had been puzzled by the Frontier Expedition, which didn't make any sense. Tasha was happy to see that the new generation was as good as the previous ones. She walked to the chair, using her cane to lean on. She was now an old woman, and her leg still hurt. It was an old wound from Edora.


	10. Warriors and Workers

**The Minbari Industrial Defeat**, _by University of Shuma'sha (Abba III)_

The first great battle in the war was the Battle of Vega, in which humans were totally crushed. The second battle was the Battle of Tau Ceti, which was once again tactically won by the Minbari, but strategically lost. The Minbari wanted to take over the entrance of the jump-corridor to Deneb, but what they didn't account for was the Admiral Lethbridge-Stewart and his fleet self-destructing and setting off dozens of nukes at the entrance of the corridor.

There was an immediate disturbance, which went like a shockwave through the corridor from Tau Ceti to Deneb, wrecking all ships, civilian and military alike, who used it to flee Tau Ceti. The sacrifice, though, was worth it, since the corridor ceased to work, and the Minbari were unable to go through. Moreover, the whole Minbari fleet, that had entered the corridor, was wrecked too.

The Minbari had reached one of their goals : stopping Earth from getting Frontier resources. But the Minbari, in their pride and hatred, wanted to destroy the humans of the Frontier now, because they didn't like the idea of countless human colonies (however small) running around so far away, and because their pride was hurt by this failure.

So, under pressure from the Warrior Caste, and despite reservations from parts of the Worker Caste, the Grey Council ordered to launch an expedition in conventional space and jumpspace to Deneb. In other words, the Expeditionary Fleet would go all the way, crossing 1600 LY.

Theoritically, it was possible. Logistically, it was a nightmare. The Minbari would have to map all that uncharted space, so they needed hundreds of Vanguard ships, designed specifically to map jumpspace and build jumpgates. They had to account for losses of ships, for some Vanguard ships always got lost forever.

Moreover, they didn't have enough experienced Vanguard crews, since the Vanguard Fleet had been reduced in size with the centuries, the Minbari mostly abandoning exploration and focusing inwards. Only with Dukhat had it restarted. So that meant veteran Vangard personnel would be split between all the Ships, and mixed with newbies to teach them. Those newbies had to be taken away from factory and shipyards workers.

The Grey Council anticipated a high number of Vanguard losses, since  
>(1) The expedition would work on a tight timetable, after all, the Council would be sending a third of the Minbari Fleet to the Frontier. Such missions require to take your time, which they wouldn't be able to.<p>

(2) The expedition would be mostly composed of newbies.  
>Since there would be many Vanguard losses, the Council decided to build twice as many Vanguard ships as theoritically needed (to account for the possible losses).<p>

The Warriors handwaved such concerns. They cared for glory more than logistics, besides, it was workers who would risk their life, not them. The Religious Caste (except for Delenn) reluctantly followed them, for fear of dividing Minbari society in the middle of a war.

When the Council decided to start the Frontier Expedition, that had three far-reaching consequences. The first was that one third of the current war-fleet would be tied away once the expedition started. A good portion of the workers (including the best of them) would also be away from Minbar, and too far to be recalled.

The second was that, for one year, all Minbari space industry would only build the Expedition Fleet. It was comprised not only of Vanguard Ships and warships, but also of hospital ships, supply and agricultural ships. That was why, when they invaded the Home Sector of EA, they just had to bring supplies from home with them, or for the land campaigns, send a few supply ships.

But the expedition would reach Deneb in months, and then would take months to destroy human colonies there. So, they decided to take both agricultural ships (to provide for the fleet) and supply ships, with embarked food (in case some agricultural ships were lost). The Worker and Religious castes insisted on that precaution.

That meant that, until August 2246, no Minbari shipyard was available to build more warships, or even repair or refit the existing ones. That didn't faze the Minbari, who only took minimal losses at the beginning of the war.  
>And from September 2246, the shipyards become, again, available for warship production, but almost half of the skilled workers were now in the Expedition, on Vanguard, supply and agricultural ships. That meant the production capabilities were also halved, for the remainder of the war.<p>

Thirdly, the Expedition showed the Workers that the Warrior Caste didn't care for them, their safety and their survival, and was irremediably stupids (only fools would neglect logistics like that), and that the Religious Caste was weak, willing to go along the Warriors and sacrifice the Workers. On the other hand, the Warriors saw the Workers' opposition as disrespect for Dukhat's memory and lack of honor. For millenia, when there was peace and everything worked well, the Minbari society remained united, but the Expedition sown the seeds of division.

**Author's note : **  
>There, I'm only trying to justify why, OTL, the Battle of the Line was only in '47 or '48 (sources disagree) while the war started in July '45. It seems awfully long, considering they could have simply<br>(a) glassed all planets from orbit until no-one remained, and saved time  
>(b) gone straight to Earth and Core Planets, and finished the rest later<br>And they'd have still won.

So, I'm NOT nerfing the Minbari. **They WERE that slow and uncareful in the show.** And it's understandable, they were the oldest and most powerful young race in the block, they beaten the Shadows and were groomed to do it again, they beaten the Garmak invaders (who held most of the region) sending them all the way back to Garmak, they beaten the Streib, and they face primitive and youg humans.  
>Plus, their <strong>arrogance was justified<strong>. With their technology so much superior, they effectively took no risk by waiting. There, it's not the case only because of Seth and Hathor, nothing that they could have predicted, so they act as arrogant as in the show.

That will slowly change (mentalities change slowly, especially in such traditionalist and arrogant societies) when they hit the wall of reality, but for now, they're just like in the show.

Oh, **and don't worry, Earth Alliance too will have its fair share of defeats, screw-ups and will be massively hurt. They'll survive, that's a given, but we don't know at which price or how. And the Minbari WILL wake up, it'll just take time.**


	11. The Shield and the Hammer

**The Goa'uld impact in Earth military technology **

**Introduction**  
>Seth and Hathor had been out of the loop for 5,000 years, so they didn't know the state-of-art of Goa'uld technology in the 23rd century. That said, their knowledge was not obsolete, the Goa'uld after all were good at copying technology from other races, but often didn't fully understood it, which means that they didn't improve it that much. And they never creating anything totally on their own (except for the Tok'ra, thanks to the creativity of some hosts). Which isn't surprising, they are after all walking recording devices.<p>

**Sensors, Metallurgy, Power Generation and Shields**

The first Goa'uld technology adapted was of course the sensors. Hathor and Seth helped to create a sensor package small enough to be produced quickly and quickly installed on existing vessels. The Goa'uld had long-range and very precise EM sensors, and also gravitic sensors, able to "see" the gravitational waves.

In six months, the Terrans managed to develop the sensor package, test its efficiency (in the lab and in the field), check it multiple times to ensure that there was no "surprise" left by one of the snakes. Then, they had to find a way to tie the sensors into the ship internal network without risking anything (like a Goa'uld virus they'd have missed), and to develop software to make their battle computers able to process the data. About the software, they didn't ask the snakes for help, because frankly they didn't trust them. Finally, there was the mass production and installation of the sensors.

Of course, Seth and Hathor had worked on other projects, too, in those six months. The priority was given to those which can implemented on the current ships.

The second project was of course, learning to refine (as fast as possible) Naqadah and Trinium.

The third project was the shield. Of course, introducing a ship-wide shield (like the ones on Al'kesh or Ha'taks) would need to put shield generators, and also to put Naqadah generators to power them. In short, it would need a large-scale refit, tying both ships and shipyards in a critical time.

The Professor Lauren Carter (who, incidentally, was of a long dynasty of renowned military scientists) had the elegant idea of using personal shields on ships. Basically, EA would use the same shields that the Goa'uld use in their hara kesh, to protect themselves, but all around the hull (to complete full coverage). Or rather, packages of 10 personal shields, put all around the ships. Each ship needed a lot of personal shields for full-coverage, and that wasn't as efficient as a main shield. But at least, they could be installed manually, without using a shipyard. And it increased the durability of the ship.

To be fair, Earth was no stranger to shielding before. But Earth Force used the E-web, which was a net of force fields covering all the ship, while the Goa'uld use a plasma bubble, which is more efficient.

Lauren Carter had also the idea to use small Naqadah generators (SNG), inspired by the ones in zatnik'tels and hara'keshes. Of course, Earth ships already had a good power source, fusion reactors, but those reactors showed unreliable when in presence of Minbari powerful sensors, during the Prometheus incident. Thanks to the SNG, Earth ships could now stop their reactor before a battle against the Minbari, avoiding the risk of reactor containment failure.


	12. Timeline : 2245

**Timeline**  
>July 2245 : Prometheus Incident.<p>

Battle of Vega. 12 Hyperion cruisers, 8 Nova Dreadnoughts, 5 Nova-X Battlecruisers and 10 Olympus and Artemis escorts are destroyed by 75 Sharlins. 3 Sharlins are destroyed, by ramming or by lucky fire.

The Drazi Freehold starts to scramble a fleet of 1,000 ships to aid Earth Alliance.

August 2245 : The Grey Council orders the invasion of Tau Ceti system, to go straight to Deneb. The Minbari invasion fleet is destroyed along with the jump-corridor, severing Deneb from Tau Ceti, thanks to the sacrifice of the Tau Ceti defenders.

Destruction of the Drala Fi in the Sol system.

Earth Dome starts the Hypnos Project (colonies outside of the jumpgate network, with slow ships), and reactivates all mothballed ships (including the ones from 21st century).

September 2245 : Invasion of Jericho and Cyrus colonies.

The Grey Council decides to send an expedition to Deneb through conventional jumpspace. Mass production of Vanguard, hospital, agricultural and supply ships starts, both for the expedition and for the current occupation of human planets. Shipyards are now tied.

On Earth, capture of Hathor and Seth. Earth Dome decides to make Eskal its fallback colony, and to start mining Naqadah and Trinium there. Preparations immediately start.

EA-wide draft is implemented.

The Drazi Fleet sent to help Earth is destroyed in jumpspace, but not by the Minbari. Stro'kath is furious, but can't do anything at the time, since he lost a fourth of his fleet and can't afford more.

The Minbari send fleets to the home systems of Abbai, Vree, Cascor, Onteen, Yolu, Hyach, Brakiri, Markab and Drazi, as a demonstration of power, to get them to stop arms shipments to EA and cut ties. League powers are fuming, but forced to obey. The Drazi feel humiliated.

October 2245 : Invasion of the Dakota system. First real -but pyrrhic- human victory, through the use of Kamikaze-class fighters, built in Trinium.

Earth Force tries to retake Cyrus colony, and spectacularly fails.

The Grey Council orders the fleet to only engage humans at long range, rather than forcing close engagements.

November 2245 : The Minbari try to invade Cygnus Colony. However, because of a nearby black hole, the Minbari fleet is forced to cross a narrow path in jumpaspace, and can't communicate. Earth Force tests its new Naqadah bomb ieffects in jumpspace, destroying a Minbari fleet almost without losses.

Transport en masse starts between Eskal and Earth, the first sending Naqadah and Trinium shipments, and the second sending colonists.

Invasion of Cooke and Kandhi systems.

December 2245 : After the Cygnus disaster, the Grey Council appoints Branmer (much to the chagrin of the Wind Swords) in overall military command.  
>The Minbari know that the humans exploited the nearby black hole at Cygnus, but ignore that the humans have a new, bigger and meaner, bomb.<p>

Invasion of Signet. The humans have mined the space around the planet with nuclear mines, concentrating them above the cities, where the Minbari ships would be to glass them. They disguised the nukes as space debris. Moreover, Earthers hid plenty of optical satellites, to get a good view of Minbari ships.

So, when the Minbari fleet arrived in orbit, many ships were struck by mines, and the EA fleet, knowing their position, jumped right close to them just at the same time and fought desperately, using their plasma and missile weapons and the _Kamikaze_ fighters, and then ramming.

The Minbari did take the planet, but at high cost. That said, good leadership (Branmer chose well his officers) limited the losses, the Minbari expected some trap and were prepared.

On Signet, civilians are spared, on Branmer's orders, much to the displeasure of many Warriors.

Mass production of Naqadah bombs starts.

January 2246 : The Anla'shok (with Branmer's secret blessing) try to negociate a peace with G'Kar's help, by sending Lennon. An unofficial ceasefire is observed. But a Centauri sneak attack kills Lennon.


	13. The Great Centauri Adventure

**The Centauri Republic Involvement in the Earth-Minbari War**

A ) The Year of Despair (2245-2246)

The most involved alien governments were, of course, the Centauri Republic, the Narn Regime and the League of Non-Aligned Worlds.

The Centauri position was complex. Even though the Republic is (ironically) an absolute monarchy, it's not a monolithic bloc. There was always a fluctuating balance of power between the Emperor and the Noble Houses, and among the Houses. Also, we should never forget that, among houses, each individual has his own opinions and interests, and there's a lot of backdoor deals and backstabbing even in the same family.

Let's start with the houses at the time. There were (and still are) divides based on foreign policy, trade, level of loyalty to the imperial power, and mere personal interests and squabbles. On the foreign and trade policy, we can see a divide between the Business, Expansionist and Isolationist Houses.

The business houses, of which the Jaddo and Mollari Houses are a typical example, were the biggest trade partners of Earth Alliance and equally depended on her. Those houses, basically, thought that the Republic should not conquer other races and should reduce its military budget to what is necessary to defend Centauri territory.  
>And even then, they were willing to pull out of far-off planets difficult to defend, or from planets with only a few resources (especially when those planets didn't belong to their own house, incidentally). Instead, the Republic should use trade and diplomacy to be rich and powerful.<p>

There is still a great debate on whether the trade houses helped the Narn Rebellion, because of their rivalry with the expansionist houses, but it never had been proved. Of course, officially, both the Narn (who are proud to have gained their independence on their own, and would never acknowledge any Centauri help) and the Centauri deny it. Also, in 2156, we now know that the expansionist houses petitioned for conquest of Earth, but the trade houses opposed it with success.

Those houses were typically into culture and fashion, even more than the others, which partly explains their interest for Humanity. But there were also other elements, like the fact humans look almost exactly like the Centauri (and Minbari), while they are almost neighbors, which is puzzling.  
>And finally, the opportunity to make money with humans. Moreover, the humans were more reliable than Drazi or Brakiri, more fun and interesting than Abbai, Hyach or Yolu, and had common interests with the Republic (like containing the Narn and the Drazi).<p>

So, for the trade houses, the Earth-Minbari War was a disaster. They would lose their biggest trade partner and be ruined, which would allow the expansionist houses to dominate the Centauri politics, and would affect them personnally. Moreover, most of them honestly liked the humans, partly because of their love for exotism. On the other hand, they had no love for the Minbari, because they never traded or exchanged with them.  
>There were also romantic spirits who were incensed at the Minbari lack of honor and admired the humans' valiant resistance. Some would join the Terran Foreign Legion later.<p>

So, the trade houses tended to support Earth Alliance. The fact that the Narn were doing the same only spurred them further, since they didn't want to leave that niche to the Narn alone. That support was very limited, however, since they feared the wrath of the Minbari.

That didn't stop Londo Mollari, who cared for the Republic first and has his own opinions, to order the sneak attack that killed Lennon. Perhaps his house didn't want Earth to fall, but he didn't want the Narn to sell Centauri weapons to Earth either.

The isolationist houses didn't care much for the war in itself. They would have been happy to see the trade houses weakened, but feared that the expansionist houses would be strenghtened. And above all, they feared the Minbari.

The expansionist houses viewed the war as an opportunity. They rejoiced when the Drazi fleet, sent to Earth in september 2245, was destroyed in jumpspace, and wanted to take back the disputed worlds (much to their chagrin, Emperor Turhan refused).

They also hoped that the Minbari would destroy Earth Alliance, and even better if they went to war with the Narn Regime and the League (especially the Drazi). Then, the Minbari would probably pull back, and the Centauri would have dozens of planets to take without firing a single shot.

Finally, the Emperor Turhan had a median position between the trade and isolationist houses (but clearly rejected the expansionist doctrine). Turhan wanted the Centauri to apologize to the Narn and pull back from disputed worlds, because he wanted a true peace with the Narn (and if possible, the Drazi). He also wanted Earth to survive, but felt that he could do little, if he didn't want the Minbari to attack the Republic.

One point on which everybody agreed from the beginning, though, was that the Republic should be in constant readiness, since the war could expand to them at any time. The Royal Fleet recalled its reserves and constantly trained, while warship production rose.

**2 ) The War of Attrition**

When Earth introduced its new sensors and shields, the war became a war of attrition. The Minbari still had superior firepower, speed (both in normal space and jumpspace), and maneouvrability. Their gravitic shielding was still better. And they had, for now, superior numbers.

That said, the humans had more military personnel to throw in the battlefield, especially if you counted the conscripts. Sure, the conscripts would came last, they only trained, for months, ready to use if needed, but they were still there. The humans also had far more shipyards than the Minbari, and in the first year, the Minbari shipyards were all busy because of the (coming) expedition to the Frontier.

So, the Minbari had more ships, but couldn't replace ship losses in the first year. Moreover, the human personnel was far more and better trained and organized than the Minbari military, and more experienced. They also, constantly, surprised the Minbari with new tactics and strategies, including many "mad" ideas, with an extreme risk.

Even then, there was little hope that the humans would survive, at least at the beginning. They continued to lose ships at a frantic rate, and to lose colonies, while the Minbari territory remained untouched. Simply, they would bleed the Minbari, and perhaps buy time for human survivors to flee.  
>That didn't change much the Centauri perspective, apart from making humans even more popular to romantic minds and rejoicing the Expansionist Houses (who were pleased to see the Minbari weakened).<p>

Also, the Centauri wondered how the humans developed such technologies so fast. But they concluded that either the humans had found some ancient leftover technology (just like the Vree developed their "teleportation" and anti-matter technology from ancient artefacts), or that they were already working on it before and just had it at the right time.

Still, the Centauri were impressed and interested in the technology, after all, even them didn't have plasma shields nor sensors able to break the Minbari jamming.

**3 ) The Turning of the Tide**

When Earth Alliance started to roll out new classes of ships, equipied with plasma shield, hyperdrive, artificial gravity, gravitic propulsion and more advanced plasma weaponry, that changed massively the Centauri perspective.  
>First of all, the Centauri wanted desperately to get the new technology, by all means (short of going to war against either EA or the Minbari, because both now outclassed the Republic). Emperor Turhan (supported by the isolationist and trade houses) opposed any piracy attempts, but of course, there were always Centauri willing to try. Suffice to say that they were never heard of again.<p>

The Centauri became also (rightly) sure that humans were exploiting ancient technology, but that was still impressive. Or, worse, some living First Ones were now helping Earth covertly.

Secondly, the Centauri now saw an Earth victory as possible. For the expansionists, it was a mixed blessing. On one hand, both the Minbari and Earth would end up bloodied and war-weary, whoever was the victor. On the other hand, it meant that Earth technology outclassed them and possibly had a First One ally. But this was nothing they could seriously do about that, so they did nothing.

For the trade houses, it was also a mixed blessing. On one hand, even they wanted the Republic to be the first, so they didn't like it. Moreover, Earth would not need to buy Centauri technology anymore, for example, the hope of selling (or leasing) them artificil gravity was brutally dashed.  
>On the other hand, they were happy that Earth would survive. Both because they had sympathies (or at least a liking) to Earth, and because they still needed Earth as a trade partner.<p>

So, the Centauri policy became more human-leaning. The Centauri started to welcome human refugees (and treat them well, not as slaves like they would usually do), which spurred an even greater interest for humanity. They also resumed trade with Earth. They didn't sell weapons, Earth didn't need them anyway. But the day-to-day civilian trade (which covered spices, foods, books, movies and all kinds of products) resumed.

The Minbari were furious, and the humans welcomed it, but saw the Centauri as friends who abandoned the ship and then came back.

The Republic also (unofficially) allowed her young people to join the Terran Foreign Legion. If the Minbari won, the Centauri would call them "rogues", and if Earth won, they would have more prestige.

So, there were Centauri fighting alongside Llort, Cascor, Balosian, and even Drazi and Narn, volunteers. The brawls between the Narn, Centauri and Drazi soldiers became legendary.

The young Centauri came for a variety of reasons, like the pay (especially for commoners and disenfranchised nobles), the lure of adventure, glory, sympathy for the humans, or wanting to flee their life. The last one was especially true for commoners and for women, who were always treated as inferior in the Centauri society. Also, some Centauri young people came because they hoped to get laid with humans.

The Terran Foreign Legion became like piracy had been, an outlet for young (or less young) Centauri people who wanted to change their life.

**The next chapter is mostly an in-universe article about the League of Non-Aligned Worlds, explaining the historical context (for introducing Chapter 15) so you can overlook it, it's not too important.**


	14. Divided They Fall

****This chapter is mostly an in-universe article about the League, explaining the context (for introducing Chapter 15) so you can overlook it, it's not too important.****

**The Neutral Powers during the Earth-Minbari War : the League of Non-Aligned Worlds**

_From "An History of Galactic and Intergalactic diplomacy from the Dilgar War", by Master Krel'nor of Chulak, published in 2400_

The Non-Aligned Worlds (or NaW for short), during the Earth-Minbari War, all had a different position. We have to start by a presentation of the League.

A ) Overwiew of the LONAW.

First of all, we have to remember that the League was not a federation or even a confederation, merely an alliance of sovereign states, and that this alliance was focused on trade and cultural exchanges. The best known example of that is the mutai, the Yolu martial art, which spread througout the League and farther. Sure, the League powers helped each other when they could (at no risk), for example, during the Dilgar War, they immediately all (with some exceptions like the Hurr and Grome) took in refugees from each other, even though most remained neutral for months. Of course, the Brakiri took advantage of those refugees, after all it's cultural for them.

The paradox of the League is that, even though many members joined to gain security against the Centauri (and more recently, Narn) expansionism, it was not a military alliance, because some members, chiefly the Yolu and Hyach, opposed such entanglements. There was also the matter that the Gaim, Descari and Corillanis feared the Narn (who had also a border conflict with the Drazi), while the Drazi, Abbai, Brakiri, Balosians, Hurr and Grome feared more the Centauri, with good reason.

After all, the Centauri had colonized Balos, Brakir, Androma (Hurr), Gromhak, Corillan and Orillan, the last two being then "liberated" (and of course, kept) by the Narn until their uprising. A rogue Centauri faction (under Drakh influence) had also tried to invade Shuma'sha (Abba III) during the Centauri-Orieni War, and had failed.

So, some members wanted an alliance against the Centauri, others had good relations (and no borders) with them and didn't want to hear of it, and the same dilemma existed for the Narn, while some members didn't want a military alliance (which was what prevailed). The Abbai long advocated an overall defensive alliance,

Another problem of the League was that very few members actually invested in it. Most of them only attended the regular meetings and some didn't even do that. Worse, many members actually hated, or even fought, each other.

There was always a low-intensity conflict on Tiras between Narn, Drazi, Gaim and Descari settlers, many historians still debate why it never escalated. That conflict was intertwined with the hatred between Narn, Descari and Gaim, and between Narn and Drazi. Further "north" (coreward), the Hurr and Grome fought both each other and a non-member race, the reptilian Attarn, over Quantium 40 deposits.

The Hurr also always coveted Latig, a Drazi colony, while the Drazi despised those upstart neighbors and regularly raided them, crippling their trade. During the Dilgar War, the Hurr Navy moved on Latig to take over, hoping that the Drazi were distracted. Ironically, the Hurr and Drazi navies, ready to fight each other, had to cooperate when the Dilgar swooped in. They were still destroyed (and today, Hurr and Drazi are still arguing over who is responsible for this defeat and for the planet itself).

The piracy was another crippling problem for the League. There were outsiders (mostly humans, Narn and Centauri) practicing piracy. For the Centauri, it was more a cultural phenomenon, but there were also corsairs condoned or at least tolerated by the Centauri and Narn governments, targeting mostly the (legitimate) trade of each other in League space (there was even a low-level conflict between Vree trading guildes and Narn raiders), but also other races they didn't like. For the humans, it was the work of disgruntled humans hoping to make a fortune or just survive. There was also intra-League piracy, as seen below. It was not uncommon to see multi-species crews. Ironically, the piracy was the first area where League races cooperated and really mixed.

The Llort were the most involved in it, for cultural reasons. They never saw it as piracy or theft. For them, it's all right to take when you give back something. Of course, that conception never meshed well with the traditional trade, where the seller have to decide to sell, and choose his price. But at least, the Llort were never violent (unless fired upon first). The Drazi were very involved in piracy too, because of the fragmented nature of their society, and their emphasis on glory and fighting.

There were also many Brakiri pirates, both because of the strong social inequalities in the Brakiri Syndicacy and because of human influence. Basically, many Brakiri saw human pirate movies and imitated what they saw (in space). Interestingly, that phenomenon emerged in 2021, while the humans had barely explored the Sol system and not even started to colonize the Moon, because Brakiri got (directly or through the Vree) many human movies, through radio emissions.

The Drazi government claim (we must use the present because it's still going on, even thouh declining) that Drazi pirates were rogues, and most of the time it's true. That said, the Freehold was never shy on using corsairs (and claiming they were rogue pirates) against rival governments (such as the Hurr or Narn), or to try to get Hyach technology. The Drazi created other problems, since even regular and honest citizens tended to start brawls everywhere on perceived or real insults, or sometimes, start firefights (including in space). Of course, we shouldn't indulge in stereotypes, every Drazi is different, but the fact stands that it soiled diplomacy.

Finally, another disturbing matter with the Drazi Freehold was their unsavory treatment of pre-Space Age planets like Mipas and Enphili, which were close to Earth 19th-century level. They claimed the mantle of "protectors" of these planets without their consent and took advantage of them, while restricting their progress. To justify their protection, they exaggerated or made up stories about Centauri, Narn and human boogeymen, and sent Raiders (apparently unrelated to them) to those worlds. They maintained the secret about those activities to their own people and their neighbors, but thanks to declassified archive, we now know that the Abbai, Hyach and some others knew, and merely tried to get them to stop.

There were all kinds of other problems, of course. For example, the Grome, due to their pride, wanted to develop and produce all their technology on their own, to the point they choose to not reverse-engineer the Lumati crashed ships found on Gromhak. That made cooperation and trade with them very difficult. The Kor-Lyans are divided in plenty of clans, constantly "warring" with animal troops, and each clan maintain its own trade relations. It's even worse for the Ipsha, divided in five kingdoms, which all have their own treaties, or their own wars, even off-planet, which is very confusing for aliens. The Torata regularly raided their Tokati, Tikat and Kor-Lyan neighbors. The Gaim and Descari hated each other with passion since a misunderstanding led to a pitched battle in the Descari system (for both of them, this was their second contact after the Narn aggression). The Yolu had always been isolationist and neutral, even in the Shadow War a millenia ago, and had to be dragged in by the Abbai. And finally, nobody wanted anything to do with the Pak'ma'ra, who were seen as too alien and overlooked, as slow, lazy and stupid, among other (unjustified) prejudices.

All those reasons explain why the League wasn't working, and failed spectacularly in the Dilgar War. Nobody moved to help the Alacans and Balosians, the neighbors pretending to believe the Dilgar lies. Then, when the Abbai and Drazi were attacked, the other members (chiefly the Brakiri) thought that they were able to defend themselves on their own (the Brakiri were also jealous of Abbai technology) and the Dilgar posed no threat to them, which was soon proved wrong. Let's see, now, the League policies (and politics) during the Earth-Minbari War.

B ) The beginning of the war and the LONAW :

When the war started, reactions were mixed in the League. The majority of members felt sad for what was coming to the humans, but also felt they could do nothing without bringing the Minbari wrath on them.

These fears were well-founded, the League couldn't handle the Minbari militarily, for a variety of reasons. Some of them (like the Hyach, Vree and Abbai) lacked the military mindset, the industry and the numbers, even though their technology was rather close to the Minbari. Sure, Minbari sensors would have been a problem, but Minbari firepower was well-countered by Abbai effective defenses, while the Hyach had the second-best sensors of the region and were able to engage at long range, thanks to their spinal lasers. The Vree had excellent anti-matter weapons, and their ships had a good speed and maneouvrability, and they were good at tactics, but not very good at strategy.

The Drazi didn't lack military mindset (that's an understatement), but tended to charge without thinking much about strategy, tactics or logistics, or caring about losses. The Drazi had difficulties to work with others, of course, but at least they had a real respect for the Earthers (thanks to the Dilgar War) and, surprisingly, to the Abbai (who despite their pacifism, were the first and only to accept a defensive alliance before the Dilgar attacked). After all, it's no coincidence that we, Jaffa, became fast friends with the Drazi, even if both us of had to evolve since then. Moreover, the Drazi (like Earth Alliance) were unable to break Minbari jamming.

Finally, the other, smaller, League members lacked everything, technology, numbers and military mindset alike, and couldn't be helpful even if they had wanted to. And most, like the Hurr, Grome or Torata, didn't care anyway, they had been mostly spared by the Dilgar and had no gratitude to Earth. The Torata had even a long history of raids against nearby Earther colonies.

The Abbai, because of their pacifism, and the Hyach, because of their dwindling numbers (already drastically reduced by the Dilgar), were especially loath to do anything. The Yolu remembered well, from the Last Shadow War, that the Minbari were the Vorlons' favorites, and feared to anger both the Minbari and Vorlons. Moreover, the League powers had to watch their backs (because of the Centauri, the Narn and sometimes each other).

Not only the League powers were cowed, but some felt that the humans had brought this on themselves with their arrogance, which is rather true. After all, both Hyach and Centauri had warned Earth to not seek a first contact with the Minbari. There were also many people who had been annoyed at the Earth Alliance attitude in the previous decades.

The humans tended to believe they had won the Dilgar War single-handedly, which was unfair to the League, even though they clearly were the deciding factor. That, of course, annoyed their League friends. The older members were irritated by the human condescendance and arrogance, after all, the humans only went in space in the 22rd century, while the Vree and Drazi did a few centuries ago, and the Abbai, Hyach and Yolu had a millenia experience. The younger members of the League (who had their space age at about the same time as Earthers), on their part, didn't like that Earth was trying to pull them into their "zone of influence" politically and into free trade (which would've harmed their economies and cultures).

By the way, the human arrogance also offended the Centauri (because of their own sense of superiority) and Narn (because of their pride). The Earth Alliance attitude after the Dilgar War had often led to comparisons with the old United States of America, after World War II, who were loved worldwide and seen as liberators, but also quickly annoyed many people because of their "first-of-class" behaviour.

There was still gratefulness for the human help in the Dilgar War. But that gratitude was mitigated by the fact that the humans moved in only when their ally and direct neighbour, the Markab Confederacy, and ignored the plight of the League before that. Many reproached that the humans had only moved when their trade and their own security were at stake, and had been happy to do nothing before. This vision is not true, but is understandable.

President Hauser knew that, in 2228, the Earth Alliance was not ready for a major war. Sentator Santiago had lobbied for an intervention based on humanitarian grounds, but Hauser knew it was not possible at the time, so he decided to wait and accelerate the military build-up, which had been started because of the Dilgar a decade earlier.

But of course, since those details are not well-known, the gratitude (while total from the Markab) was mixed with a lingering resentment among the races hit the hardest, like the Balosians, Tirrithians, Malaxians and Brakiri. While this is partly justified for the first three, for the Brakiri, it was like the pot calling the kettle black. After all, they themselves refused any assistance to the Abbai and Drazi before being attacked.

Another motive of grudges was that, once they declared war on the Dilgar, the Earthers refused to divide their fleet and help everyone at once. So, while Balos had to wait until the end, and Alaca, Mitoc and Krish were utterly sacrificed, Earth Force saved broke the siege of Comac Major (Brakiri). That choice was an excellent strategical choice, but was also motivated by the important trade with the Brakiri. Then, Earth Force saved the Abbai, Ipsha and Vree first.

To sum it up, there were people all around the League who resented Earth for entering the war only for selfish reasons (after having neglected their plight) and not rescuing them fast enough then. Whether it is justified or not is still a great debate, but that too played against any help to Earth after the Prometheus Incident.


	15. And United They Stand

**The Neutral Powers during the Earth-Minbari War : the League of Non-Aligned Worlds**

_From "An History of Galactic and Intergalactic diplomacy from the Dilgar War", by Master Krel'nor of Chulak, published in 2400_

For various reasons, previously explained, at first, the League didn't send any help to the humans, and merely continued trade. And even this trade went down, both because League merchants and governments saw the Earther space as hazardous and because the humans used heavily their merchant marine for military transport and civilian evacuation. It was to the chragrine . Also, the League started to take in human refugees (even though the Brakiri charged Earth Alliance for a large fee, after all, Brakiri culture sees generosity as a weakness).

There was an exception. The Drazi, under Strok'ath's leadership, sent a fleet of 1000 capital ships to help Earth, but the fleet was destroyed in jumpspace. We know for sure, today, that the Minbari didn't do that (and weren't even aware of that fleet at the time). That mystery was never solved, but the prime suspects now are the Vorlons.

Then, the Minbari sent multiple fleets in orbit of the League homeworlds, to remind them of their superiority, and asked them to cease all trade with EA and stop taking in refugees. The League was furious, especially the Drazi, but complied. Many hothead Warriors (which was almost a pleonasm at the time) wanted to actually strike at them, but cooler heads, like Delenn, prevailed. Delenn was not keen even on this gunboat diplomacy but had to accept it as a compromise.

C ) The War of Attrition

When the humans, unexpectedly, managed to stop the first Minbari offensive, the League rejoiced. Many had resented the humans for various motives, and/or thought that they had it coming, and many also understood why the Minbari declared war, after all, their leader (and Dukhat was more than that) was killed.

But when it became clear that the Minbari were attempting a genocide against humans, the League races were horrified, especially those hit by the Dilgar. Their sympathy for the humans came back instantly.

Even those who were really anti-human didn't like how the Minbari destroyed any League trade ship and murdered any League expatriate, trader or diplomat they would find on the ground (along with the human colonists). The Minbari's image soured even more when the Minbari shot Abbai and Hyach diplomatic ships trying to mediate a peace, and turned to pure hatred and fear when Minbari fleets came to threaten their homes.

The League governments started military preparations, even the Abbai, when they realized the genocidal intentions of the Minbari. They now feared to be next on the list and would not be caught unprepared, like with the Dilgar.

When the Minbari offensive was broken, there was public rejoicing on Drazi, Llort, Brakiri and Ipsha planets among others. The governments waited to see how the situation evolved, but it soon became clear that it wasn't a passing stroke of luck. So, in April 2246, the League decided to reopen its borders to human refugees and re-start the trade with Earth Alliance.

This time, merchant ships would have an armed escort and would take in human refugees when they left. They had orders to not fire on the Minbari first, and if the Minbari attacked them, to try to evade and only fire back if they had no choice. There was the first time the League managed to reach a collective major decision on its own, especially concerning military and diplomatic matters. What was even more unprecedented was the actual cooperation between the League members. This raised many Centauri and Narn eyebrows.

Instead of each League member having its own merchant convoys, the League established a collective schedule of convoys, and a common fleet was scrambled to protect them, using Abbai, Hyach, Yolu, Markab, Drazi, Brakiri and Vree military ships. Each of those races had different technologies and strong points, and alone they were not that strong, but together they were a force to be reckoned with.


End file.
